Calgary Stampeders Joffrey Reynolds (21) avoids the tackle by Edmonton Eskimos Jason Goss during the second half of their CFL football game in Calgary, Alberta, September 7, 2009.Reuters
A former Canadian Football League all-star has been found guilty of attacking his ex-girlfriend.
A Calgary judge has convicted Joffrey Reynolds of assault causing bodily harm, common assault and being unlawfully in a dwelling.
Reynolds, 33, was acquitted of break and enter with intent.
His one-time girlfriend had testified at his trial that he tried to choke and smother her when she came home and found him in her bed after a night of drinking.
Kaitlin Ward, 27, had dated Reynolds for six years before ending their relationship in December 2011 upon discovering he had been cheating on her.
Reynolds testified that it was Ward who attacked him in a jealous rage.
Ward said they were trying to determine if they could "salvage" their relationship when she allowed him to stay with her for a couple of days after his house went into foreclosure.
Ward testified she told Reynolds at a party that he had to get out of her house. She said Reynolds got angry and kicked her in the back of the leg.
When she went home later, she said, he was there waiting for her.
"I was shocked," said Ward. "I went by the front door to shoo him out. That's when he kind of tackled me."
Ward told Judge Brian Stevenson that Reynolds was sitting on top of her.
"He's smothering my mouth and choking me. Shoving his chin into my neck," she said. "I was gasping for air at that point."
Ward said Reynolds was yelling at her while he had his hands around her neck, pulled her to her feet by her hair and knocked her to the floor again.
"He kind of jumped from behind and put his knee into my back and started choking me again."
Reynolds testified he had fallen asleep at Ward's condo and woke to her hitting him in a jealous rage.
"She's agitated. She says I'm a cheater and a liar and she's yelling by now. I had my back turned to her and she hits me in the back and the head," Reynolds told the court.
He said Ward, who is 6-foot-5, is a strong woman and he wanted to calm her down. Reynolds is 5-foot-10.
"She's a tall, athletic woman. I'm kind of on edge. I kind of get her in a bear hug. She's yelling to the point that she's mad and crying.
"I did a kind of manoeuvre where I got a knee in her back and rode her to the ground. I restrained her. I'm trying to calm her down."
Reynolds is from Texas and played college football at the University of Houston.
He played eight years for the Stampeders and was the franchise's all-time leading rusher with 9,213 yards.
He was named a CFL all-star four times and won a Grey Cup championship with the Stampeders in 2008 before his release in 2012.